This Video Of Kanye West And John Legend Performing “Gold Digger” In 2003 Is Amazing

A revelatory peek inside Kanye’s creative process.

March 10, 2015

So many things to point out about this video of Kanye West and John Legend performing a VERY early version of Late Registration single "Gold Digger" in 2003 at the second annual Dynamic Producer Conference (via Pigeons & Planes). That Reese's shirt! The vastly different lyrics! The "Free Kobe" chant! Also, more importantly, it's crazy to hear a song of Kanye's broken down to such an early skeleton, beatless and accompanied only by John Legend's piano stylings. We've all heard about the many phases a Kanye song goes through from the beginning to how it appears on the album (and in many cases, beyond) so this early peek into his genius is more than worth your viewing time.

Lead image: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

This Video Of Kanye West And John Legend Performing “Gold Digger” In 2003 Is Amazing